Ecommerce Sites To Display The MRP And Expiry Date

Ecommerce websites such as Flipkart, Myntra, Jabong and Amazon will now have to display the Maximum Retail Price (MRP) and the expiry date of all the products on their sites. These etailers will have to comply with the government’s order to display all the important details about the products up for sale on their sites from 1 January 2018.

This move by the government aims to alleviate users concerns that ecommerce websites inflate the prices of products during sales in order to provide bigger discounts. The Department of Consumer Affairs amended the Packaged Community Rules earlier this year telling all online sellers to provide extra details regarding the products they sell on ecommerce websites. According to the new amendment, all the sellers on all ecommerce sites would have to disclose the actual MRP of the product along with the expiry dates. All the online retail websites were given a six month window to comply with this order. Under the new amendment, all ecommerce websites will have to display the MRP of the products and the best before dates of various products including food, medical products and cosmetics. The websites cannot display two different MRPs for the same packaged product.

The legal metrology head at the Consumer Affairs Department, Mr. B. N. Dixit, speaking about the amendment said, “This is likely to impact the tendency of companies to exaggerate the MRP and then offer discounts or sell items close to their expiry date.“

According to a survey conducted by LocalCircles, only 42% of 10,000 respondents had seen products listed above MRP and then discounted off the inflated price. In a statement, LocalCircles further added, “Feedback from users suggested that only 10% to 12 % of the products on ecommerce site are now showing MRP as they are being stocked by the ecommerce sites themselves.“

This order by the Consumer Affairs Department further mandates all ecommerce sites to display the expiry date of all human consumption products as well. This move comes as a result of complaints by many consumers stating they received products with only 30 to 60 days of shelf life. Consumers further added the return policy on such items were quite stringent. However, neither Flipkart nor Amazon have complied with this order.